Page 5 of Leave Me (Shift MC #1)

Chapter four

Riley

T raveling the world had been a dream of mine, growing up in such a small town, but I was getting tired of being sent all over the globe. I took my glasses off to rub my eyes, a weariness settling into my bones.

Finishing up an article about the instability caused by a recent presidential election from my last trip to West Africa, I attached the document and sent it off to the editor of the magazine.

I hoped they got pictures somehow, because the photographer with me got detained and had his camera equipment confiscated for taking a picture of government buildings.

Senegal was a mix of beauty and strife, and it wasn’t the best place to be a gay man. I could go to the beaches of Dakar shirtless, but I couldn’t safely hold a man’s hand there.

This trip had me thinking hard about what I wanted from my life. I didn’t want to write only serious articles. For once, it would be nice to travel for fun, and maybe write for fun as well.

Over the years, I’ve written some plots and short stories, posted under a pen name on free sites, and I would love the time to explore fiction more.

Write the gay romance novels I wish I’d seen growing up.

I’d been writing full time for six years, but if I could publish novels and stay closer to my mom…

And that wasn’t the only reason I was considering a career shift.

Settling down with one person was my other life goal.

It’s hard to find your person when you’re never in one place for more than a month, especially considering the safety of my work locations. How could I contemplate a life where I left my partner behind and went to places where I could be arrested or killed for who I loved?

College was my exploration, and I knew what I wanted. I liked men who were fit, my size or bigger. Though I was vers, I rarely found men I trusted enough to go beyond a quick orgasm in either role.

It didn’t help when you were still hung up on your childhood best friend.

If I’d never kissed him, maybe I would have been able to get over King. At least, that’s what I told myself. My mind was constantly wandering back to the one time I got to feel his lips on mine.

“I’m pathetic,” I whined, plopping down on the bleachers after fleeing the gym and my senior prom.

The stars were out, and I could still hear the bass thumping from where our classmates were dancing. After having some redneck assholes ask if I was up for Prom Queen, I wanted to be alone.

Of course, King followed me.

“You’re not pathetic, you’re at prom with me,” King teased, sitting on the row below me and bracketing my legs with his. He wore a dark blue suit and looked fucking handsome, despite not filling the clothing out like some of our male classmates.

A few hours before, I’d felt pretty good about how I looked all dressed up. I’d even worn contacts instead of my glasses. Now I wanted to curl up into a ball in my bed.

“Yeah, and those idiots said you should be Prom King like it was a joke,” I scoffed. “You should be.”

King shrugged and rested his hands on my thighs, sending warmth straight to my cock. I’d been having a similar reaction to my best friend for years, but not usually when his head was so close to my erection. If he noticed, he didn’t comment.

“They were right, though,” I said quietly, looking towards the gym.

“Yeah, I’d make a lit Prom King. Already have the name for it.”

“No, asshat.” I shoved his arm, and he laughed at my weak push. “Not that.”

King leaned back to look me up and down, but didn’t remove his hands. “I couldn’t imagine you in a dress, but you could rock a tiara.”

“Thanks.” Rolling my eyes, I went to push his hot hands off me, but he caught them and intertwined our fingers.

“What do you mean, then, Ri?”

Taking a deep breath, I let it out and told him something he probably already knew. We didn’t have many secrets. “I’m a never-been-kissed virgin,” I rushed my words out, and they slurred together, but he understood them anyway.

“Oh.” King’s brown eyes widened only a fraction, reflecting the moonlight. His tongue swiped out to wet his lower lip, and I tracked the motion until he spoke again. “Does that bother you?”

Swallowing hard, I looked down at our joined hands, thinking over what to share. “Not the virgin part. I don’t have a lot of options in Blue Lake. I can wait until I’m ready for sex.”

“Fair,” King agreed, absently rubbing circles on the side of my thumbs and sending electric currents up my arms. “What about the kissing thing? I didn’t know you hadn’t kissed anyone yet.”

“Who would I kiss?” I asked with a shrug that had my ill-fitting black suit rubbing my ears. I left out the part that he was the one I wanted to kiss. I was afraid to try, only to find out we had no chemistry.

Or worse, be rejected. I might die of embarrassment if my best friend rejected me.

“Kiss me.”

My head whipped up in shock. I couldn’t have heard him right. “What?”

“I’ve only kissed a couple guys, so I’m no expert. But I’m safe.” King squeezed my hands as if to make his point.

“It won’t be weird?” I asked, unsure why I was trying to talk my crush out of doing the exact thing I’d been dreaming of for years.

“We’re already weird, Ri,” King pointed out with his mischievous smirk, making me laugh. “Besides, if we’re Prom King and Queen, we should kiss, right?”

“Okay,” I agreed, biting my lower lip. “How do we…”

King stood abruptly, letting my hands drop so he could cup my face. Standing a row lower while I was sitting, we were even. Leaning in, his warm breath met mine, and I could smell the cheap punch our friends spiked.

A tremble ran over me when King’s gaze fell on my lips. “Can I kiss you, Riley? ”

“Yes,” was all I got out before King pressed his lips to mine. His eyes were closed, and his thumbs caressed my cheeks.

What were you supposed to do with your hands?

I closed my eyes and lifted my hands to grip the lapels of his suit.

A heat I’d never felt before traveled from my lips to my face, down my throat, and out to my limbs, before settling in my gut.

King kissed my lower lip, then my upper, tilting his head to press deeper.

His tongue licked between my lips, and I breathed his cherry scent in like I needed it to survive.

I never wanted the kiss to end.

When King pulled back, I felt like something fundamental had shifted inside of me. Where I’d always felt unmoored and out of place, at that moment, I was exactly where I was meant to be.

King didn’t speak, letting my face go, and sinking back into the seat in front of me. Fuck, did he not feel the same?

“Did we make it weird?” I asked with a nervous tremor in my voice. “Are you going to avoid me until graduation now?”

“No, Ri.” King turned and met my eyes. “I’m going to be around you as much as possible over the next few weeks.”

My heart soared with hope until I remembered what King had planned. He was leaving Blue Lake, and I would be off to college in a few months.

At least I had his kiss to remember him by.

“Are you getting ready?” Mom’s voice broke into my daydreaming, cutting off the memory like a cold shower to my senses. “The funeral is soon.”

Did I want to attend the funeral of the man who had treated my half-shifter mom and his own son with no respect? No, but if King might be there…

Standing to grab my suit, I took off my glasses and called out through the door, “Yeah, Mom.”

While I didn’t want to attend Alpha King’s funeral, I wasn’t going to miss a chance to see my first crush in person.